A close claw! Moment puppy who fell into a river is scooped up by a digger

This is the exciting moment when a lucky cub was rescued from a river in central China after being picked up by an excavator.

The little dog was saved by a man who carefully lifted it out of the water with a bulldozer.

The adorable dog had fallen into the water after being too curious about the work of the excavator, who dredged the canal, in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, on November 24, according to local media.

Luckily, the excavator operator thought fast and quickly lowered his shovel to see if he could grab the little pup to safety.

The little dog was saved by a man who carefully lifted it out of the water using a bulldozer.

Adorable footage, filmed by bystander Mr. Liu, of the rescue shows the operator using incredible precision to scoop behind the pup without hurting it.

Then, delicately, he leads it forward trying to hold the dog in order to get it out.

After a false start, where the pup fell out of the shovel’s clutches, the operator managed to grab the pup a second time and successfully carry it to safety.

Carrying him safely ashore, the bulldozer deposited the heavily muddy, but otherwise healthy passenger on dry land.

The cub was gently lifted up by the digger’s claws, after a failed attempt, which saw it nearly roll down the wall.

The bulldozer operator dropped the cub safely on dry land and was later taken in by locals.

Mr. Liu said that he was touched after seeing that there are still a lot of good people.

After the puppy was rescued, Mr. Liu said he learned that it was actually a stray, but the kind locals decided to take it in.

He shared the images of the rescue on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Internet users were moved by the video, with one even saying, “When the heart is good, teeth of steel and claws of iron can be so gentle.”